Ink and water motion trip for offset printing machines



March 20, 1951' A. J. ALBRECHT INK AND WATER MOTION T OFFSET PRINTING MACH RIP FOR s Filed Aug. 12, 1946 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 13; Alexander J. Albrecht INVENTOR.

A. J. ALBRECHT INK AND WATER MOTION TRIP FOR OFFSET PRINTING MACHINES March 20, 1951 Filed Aug. 12, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 I Alexandzf J. Albrecht INVENTOR.

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,March 20, 1951 A. J. ALBRECHT INK AND WATER MOTION TRIP FOR OFFSET PRINTING MACHINES 3 Sheets-Sheet s Filed Aug. 12, 1946 Alexund er' J. Albrecht IN V EN TOR.

Patented Mar. 20, 1951 INK AND WATER MOTION TRIP FOR OFFSET PRINTING MACHINES Alexander J. Albrecht, West New York, N. J assignor to R. Hoe & 00., lnc., New York, N. Y., a

' corporation of New York Application August 12, 1946, Serial No. 690,046

9 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in printing machines.

The general object of the invention is to provide means for driving the ink motion of a printing press independently of the press, as for cleaning, and to provide in conjunction with such means, means for insuring that the ink motion or water motion, or both, will be tripped off.

With this and still other objects which Will appear in the following full description in mind, the invention consists in the combinations and arrangements of parts and details of construction which will'now first be fully described with reference to the accompanying drawing and will then be more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a schematic side elevation view of two units of an offset press embodying the invention in a preferred form;

Figure 2 is a detail view of certain tripping devices for the ink and moistener motions;

Figure 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Figure 2; r I

Figure 4 is an isometric viewshowing the interaction of the gearing employed;

Figure 5 is a section through the gear and clutch mechanism employed for selecting independent or press drive for the ink motion; and

Figure 6 is a circuit diagram.

The offset press to which the invention is shown as applied is a press of the type described more fully in Huck Patent No. 2,335,010, granted November 23, 1943,. for Printing Machine, and only those portions of the mechanism which are necessary for a full understanding of the present invention are shown and described herein.

Figure 1 is a schematic showing of two units of .an offset press of the chain conveyor type. The broken line I indicates the path of the conveyor chain by means of which the sheets are carried from unit to unit for printing the successive colors. As will be understood, a press of this type may comprise any desired number of units and will be provided with paper supplying and registering mechanisms and also with delivery mechanism. These mechanisms form no part, however, of the present invention.

In Figure 1, the printing, inking and moistening cylinders and rollers are shown in the right hand unit, designated generally by the numeral 2, and the gear arrangement is shown in the unit designated generally by the numeral 3. Each unit comprises an impression cylinder 5, blanket cylinder 6, and form cylinder I. The form cylinder is inked from the fountain 8 by means of the fountain roller 9, ductor roller I0, distributing cylinder ll, ductor roller l2, further distributing cylinders I3, transfer rollers I4, and the form rollers I5. An axial reciprocation may be imparted to the distributin cylinders, as is customary. The moistening device or water motion comprises the fountain I6, fountain roller I'I, ductor I8, vibrator roller I9 and form rollers I In the gearing diagram shown in unit 3 of the figure, the gears which are coaxial with the cylinders and rollers previously referred to, are identified by similar numerals with a prime suffix. The press drive operates through gear 5', of the impression cylinder 5, which drives, in turn, the gears 6' and I of the blanket and form cylinders. Gear I, operating through the gear wheel 25 and pinion 26, normally drives the gear 21, from which the drive for the water motion is taken, through intermediate gear 28 to the gear I9. The gear 21 also drives the ink motion, operating through intermediate gear 29 to drive one of the gears I3 fixed to a vibrator roller or distributing cylinder, and operating through intermediate gears 30, 3|, 32 to drive the cylinder II and the uppermost cylinder I3. The lower left hand cylinder I3 is driven through the further intermediates 33, 34. The drive for the ductor operating mechanism may be taken off pinion 35, fixed to the gear 30, through the wheel 36, pinion 31 and wheel 38. The ductor reciprocating mechanism, as also the fountain roller ratchet or other driving mechanism, may be of any form desired. These mechanisms, being well known, are not shown herein.

Figures 4 and 5 show the gear I, coaxial with the form cylinder I, and from which the ink and water motion drives are taken. As there shown, gear I drives gear 25 which is provided with a clutch member 40 adapted to cooperate with the clutch member 4!. In Figure 5, the clutch 4IJ4I is shown as engaged, while in Figure 4, the clutch parts are shown disengaged and axially separated for clarity. When the clutch 40-4I is engaged, the gear 25, operating through the pinion 26 which is fixed to the clutch member 4|, drives the gear 27 as before described, and through this gear drives the ink and Water mo tions. The gear 25 is keyed to the outer sleeve 42 of an anti-friction bearing for rotation on the shaft 43, and the gear 26 is "slidably and r0- tatably carried thereon. The ink and water motion drive from the press, is accordingly an anti-friction drive sincethe pinion 23 will be clutched to the gear 25 during the press operation.

An alternative drive for the ink motion is provided by means of the motor and speed reducer unit 44. This may be a standard unit of any convenient type, containing an electric motor or other drive means together with any necessary gearing to produce a slow speed of rotation of the output shaft 45. A pinion 4B is keyed to the shaft 45 and drives a gear wheel 41, which is carried.

- the pinion 46.

on the shaft 43 by means of a roller bearing as indicated. The wheel 47 carries a clutch member 48 adapted to cooperate with a clutch member 49 which is secured to the opposite face of By sliding the pinion 26, clutch members 40 and 4! may be disengaged, thus disconnecting the ink motion from the press drive and clutch members 48 and 49 may be engaged, thus connecting the ink motion to the independent drive 44. A clutch operating plunger 50 is provided, and this element carries a member which engages in a peripheral groove of the pinion 26, permitting rotation of the latter and providing for sliding the same so as to engage either the clutch All-43 or the clutch 48-49, as desired. A spring-pressed ball 52, engaging in indentations in the member 50, serves to hold the clutch in either of the positions in which it may be set. A switch 53 is provided and has an op-.

erating plunger 54 which enters into a recess 55 in the member 59, when the member 50 is pushed in so as to connect the ink motion to the press drive. The recess 55 has a sloped cam surface, as shown, so that when the clutch operating member 50 is pulled out to disconnect the ink motion from the press drive, and connect it to the independent drive 44, the operating plunger 54 will be depressed, thus closing the switch The switch 53 is utilized in conjunction with other mechanism, now to be described, to prevent operation of the ink motion by the independent drive when the ink and water mechanisms have not been tripped.

Any tripping mechanism desired may' be utilized, and suitable mechanisms are fully described 1 in the Huck patent, above referred to. According to the present invention, I associate with the tripping devices switch mechanisms for the purpose of preventing operation of the independent motor when the ink and water motions are tripped on. So much of the tripping mechanism as is necessary for an understanding of the present invention is shown in Figure 2 of the drawing. As there shown, the form rollers [5, for applying ink to the printing cylinder, are tripped off by means of links 58 connected to the linkage 6| which is attached to the eccentric or cam plate 62. The eccentric 83 maybe rotated within the plate 62 so as to trip the ink form rollers oil, by means of the link 64 and arm 65 pivoting around the shaft 83. As shown in Figure 3, the arm 65 is normally coupled by means of a pin 61 to an arm 58 to which an operating link 69 is connected. The link 69 may be in connection with tripping mechanism such as shown in the Huck patent, referred to above. A manually operated lever is provided for tripping the ink motion on and ofi, this being accomplished by uncoupling the pin 6'! and turning the lever as desired. Pullin back the lever '50 to trip the ink form rollers away from the plate cylinder closesv the switch H by means of a cam 12 carried by and movable with the lever 70. This switch is interrelated with the clutch switch 53 and a similar switch for the water motion, as later described.

As also shown in Figure 2, the water motion form rollers are carried in arms 1.5. so as to roll. about the vibrator roller l9, and thus move into and out of contact with the form cylinder. An eccentric T6,. rotated by means of the handle Tl serves to trip the form rollers 28 by moving eccentric plate 18 toward and away from the plate cylinder. Movingthis plate away from the cylinder will move the form rollers 20 away from the cylinder by means of the links 19 connected to the plate 18 by means of the arms which, in turn, are carried by screw rods 8!, rotatably supported in poppets 82. The cam plate and associated structure may be carried on the frame of the machine or on a convenient member attached thereto. A cam movable with the lever 11 operates switch 86, which switch will be closed when the form rollers 20 are tripped from the form cylinder.

In Figure 6 is shown a circuit suitable for operating the mechanism above described. As there shown, power is supplied from the lines Ll, L2 and L3 through the contacts of relay Rl. When the relay R! is energized, these connections are broken. The press drive motor M is controlled,

through a relay R2 and switches SI, S2 and S3. Switch S3 interrupts line Ll, regardless of the position of switches SI and S2, and is used to stop the press. Switch S2, normally in the position of the figure, is the inching switch. Operating this switch, so as to break the contact shown and close the second pair of contacts, supplies current from line LI through switches S3 and S2 to the winding of relay R2 and back to line L2, thus energizing the relay R2 and closing its contacts to supply current to the motor M. Closing the starting switch SI supplies current through switches S3, S2 and SI to the relay winding for energizing the same and also establishes a maintaining circuit across the switch SI through the lowermost contacts of the relay R2, which maintaining circuit will continue until the switch S3 is opened. V

1 11 independent drive motor 44 for the ink motion of each unit is connected to the power'lines Ll, L2 and L3 by means of a relay R3. Each relay R3 is controlled by a stop switch S4 and a start switch S5. Switch S4 is normally closed and switch S5 is normally open. Momentarily closing a switch S5 will energize the winding of the corresponding relay R3, thusclosing the contacts of this relay and supplying current to the associated motor 54. Energizing the relay R3 also closes the contacts of a maintaining circuit bypassing the switch S5, as shown, so that the motor continues to operate until the stop switch S4 is operated. While independent drive mechanisms are shown in the circuit diagram for only two units, it will be understood that these circuits and mechanisms may be reduplicated for any number of units.

There is also provided for each unit a set of three switches 53', Ti and 86, as above described. In each set, the switches H and 86 are connected in parallel and a switch '53 is in series with them. As stated above, a switch ll will be closed if the corresponding ink motion is tripped on, a switch 86' will be closed if the water motion is tripped on and a switch 53 will be closed if a motor 44 is clutched in for independent drive of an inking motion. Accordingly, if it is attempted to clutchv disclosed provides for the pressman clutching in an: independent drive for any ink motion, pro-' 76 vided the ink and moistening form rollers for that unit are tripped off, but prevents such clutching in when the form rollers are not tripped off. As will also be apparent, the tripping on or off of the form rollers for any other unit will not affect the operation. A pressman is, therefore, able to drive any ink motion independently and at will for cleaning or other desired purposes and with entire safety.

What is claimed is:

1. In a printing machine, and in combination, an ink motion, a press drive therefor and an independent drive therefor, clutch means for selectively coupling said ink motion to the press drive and to the independent drive, tripping means for said ink motion, and means operable by said tripping means and by said clutch means for stopping the press upon operation of said clutch means tocouple said ink motion to said independent drive when the ink motion is tripped 2. In a printing machine, and in combination, an ink motion, a press drive therefor and an independent drive therefor, clutch means for selectively coupling said ink motion to the press drive and to the independent drive, tripping means for said ink motion, and means operable by said tripping means and by said clutch means for stopping the press and the independent drive upon operation of said clutch means to couple said ink motion to said independent drive when the ink motion is tripped on.

3, In a printing machine, and in combination, an ink motion, a press drive and an independent drive therefor, clutch means for selectively coupling said ink motion to the press drive and t0 the independent drive, tripping means for said ink motion, a switch operable by said tripping means, a switch operable by said clutch means, and means controlled by the two said switches for preventing driving of the ink motion by said independent drive when the ink motion is tripped 4. In a printing machine having a plurality of units, each having an ink motion, the'combination with the ink motions, of a press drive for each motion and an independent drive fo each motion, a clutch means for selectively coupling each ink motion to its press drive and to its independent drive, tripping means for each ink motion, and means operable by said tripping means and by said clutch means for stopping the press upon operation of a said clutch means to couple an ink motion to its independent drive when the ink motion is tripped on.

5. In a printing machine having a plurality of units, each having an ink motion and a moistener motion, the combination with the ink and moistene motions, of a press drive for the motions of each unit and an independent drive for the motions of each unit, a clutch means for selectively coupling the motions to their press drive and to their independent drive, tripping means for the said motions, and means operable by said tripping means and by said clutch means for stopping the press and the independent drive upon operation of a said clutch means to couple an ink motion to its independent drive when the ink motion is tripped on.

6. In a printing machine having a plurality of units, each having an ink motion and a moistener motion, the combination with the ink mo-- tions of a press drive for each motion and an independent drive for each motion, a clutch means for selectively coupling each ink motion to its press drive and to its independent drive, tripping means for each ink motion, and means operable by said tripping means and by said clutch means for stopping the press upon operation of a said clutch means to couple an ink motion to its independent drive when the ink motion is tripped on. I

7. In a printing machine having a plurality of units, each having an ink motion, the combination with the ink motions of a press drive for each motion and an independent drive for each motion, a clutch means for selectively coupling each ink motion to its press drive and to its independent drive, tripping means for each ink motion, a switch operable by said tripping means and a switch operable by said clutch means, relay means in series with both said switches for normally supplying power to the press and operable when energized by the closing of both said switches, for stopping the press upon operation of a said clutch means to couple an ink motion to its independent drive when the ink motion is tripped on.

8. In a printing machine having a plurality of units, each having an ink motion, the combination with the ink motions of a press drive for each motion and an independent drive for each motion, a clutch means for selectively coupling each ink motion to its press drive and to its independent drive, tripping means for each ink motion, a switch operable by said tripping means and a switch operable by said clutch means, and relay means controlled by said switches for stopping the press upon operation of a said clutch means to couple an ink motion to its independent drive when the ink motion is tripped on.

9. In a printing machine having a plurality of units, each having an ink motion and a water motion, the combination with the ink and water motions of each unit of a press drive for the motions and an independent drive therefor, a clutch means for selectively coupling the motions to their press drive and to their independent drive, a tripping means for each motion, a switch operable by each said tripping means and a switch operable by said clutch means, relay means having a winding circuit containing said tripping means switches in parallel and said clutch switch in series therewith for normally supplying power to the press and operable when energized by the closing of said clutch switch and either of the tripping switches for stopping the press upon operation of a said clutch means to couple an ink motion to its independent drive when the ink motion is tripped on.

ALEXANDER J. ALBRECHT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,785,158 Tornberg Dec. 16, 1930 2,170,025 Jordhoy Aug. 22, 1939 2,248,926 Meisel July 15, 1941 2,267,100 Huck Dec. 23, 1941 2,335,010 Huck Nov. 23, 1943 

